Imaging diagnosis and differential diagnosis of extraskeletal osteosarcoma.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical, imaging and pathological features of extraskeletal osteosarcoma (EOS) and to improve the understanding of this disease and other similar lesions. METHODS: The data for 11 patients with pathologically confirmed extraosseous osteosarcoma, including tumour site and size and imaging and clinical manifestations, were analysed retrospectively. RESULTS: Six patients were male (60%), and 5 were female (40%); patient age ranged from 23 to 76 years (average age 47.1 years). Among the 11 patients, 7 had clear calcifications or ossification with different morphologies, and 2 patients showed a massive mature bone tumour. MRI showed a mixed-signal mass with slightly longer T1 and T2 signals in the tumour parenchyma. Enhanced CT and MRI scans showed enhancement in the parenchyma. Ten patients had different degrees of necrosis and cystic degeneration in the mass, 2 of whom were complicated with haemorrhage, and MRI showed "fluid‒fluid level" signs. Of the 11 patients, five patients survived after surgery, and no obvious recurrence or metastasis was found on imaging examination. One patient died of lung metastasis after surgery, and 2 patients with open biopsy died of disease progression. One patient died of respiratory failure 2 months after operation. 2 patients had positive surgical margins, and 1 had lung metastasis 6 months after operation and died 19 months after operation. Another patient had recurrence 2 months after surgery. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of EOS requires a combination of clinical, imaging and histological examinations. Cystic degeneration and necrosis; mineralization is common, especially thick and lumpy mineralization. Extended resection is still the first choice for localized lesions. For patients with positive surgical margins or metastases, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy is needed.

Urban greenspaces and child blood pressure in China: Evidence from a large population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: With the world's population steadily shifting toward urban living, children's engagement with the natural environment seems to be diminishing. This raises significant concerns about the influence of urban greenspaces on the cardiovascular health of children. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between urban greenspaces exposure and blood pressure (BP) in Chinese primary schoolchildren. METHODS: This prospective cohort study used data from the Children's growth environment, lifestyle, physical, and mental health development (COHERENCE) project in Guangzhou, China. Participants included 164,853 primary schoolchildren starting from 2016/17 to 2019/20 academic year. We assessed the surrounding greenspaces at home and school by using Sentinel-2 satellite data on the normalized difference vegetation index. Prehypertension and hypertension status were defined with BP above 90th to less than the 95th percentile, at or above the 95th percentile, respectively. The association of surrounding greenness with children's BP levels and risk of prehypertension/hypertension were examined using linear mixed-effects models and Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Among 164,853 eligible children aged 7.21 (0.74) years, 89,190 (54.1%) were boys. Our results showed that average systolic and diastolic BP increased by 0.48 and 0.42 standard deviations, respectively, over the 3-year follow-up. We identified 23,225 new cases of prehypertension and 35,067 of hypertension status. An interquartile range increase both in home-, school- and home-school NDVI100m was significantly associated with a reduction of 0.018-0.037 in BP z-scores and a 2.7%-7.6% lower risk of hypertension. Additionally, family socioeconomic status modified the impact of home-school greenness on BP levels. Air pollution exhibited mediating effects solely in school-greenness-BP associations, while physical activity and children's BMI mainly mediated the relationships between home-greenness and BP. CONCLUSION: The findings of this large cohort study suggest that surrounding greenspaces are associated with lower BP levels and a decreased risk of prehypertension and hypertension in Chinese schoolchildren.

Contribution of individual and cumulative social determinants of health underlying gender disparities in periodontitis in a representative US population: A cross-sectional NHANES study.

AIM: To examine the impact of both individual and cumulative social determinants of health (SDoH) on the likelihood of developing periodontitis, while also exploring any gender disparities in this relationship. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of self-reported SDoH domains and sub-items based on Healthy People 2030 were obtained from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 1999 and 2014. Logistic regression models, weighted by survey responses, were used to examine the relationship between SDoH (including eight sub-items and the cumulative number of unfavourable SDoH) and periodontitis. The results were further analysed by gender. RESULTS: A total of 18,075 participants (8867 males and 9208 females) were included in the main analysis, of which 5814 (32.2%) had periodontitis. The study found that certain unfavourable SDoH were individually associated with higher odds of periodontitis, and the cumulative number of unfavourable SDoH was positively linked to the odds of developing periodontitis. Furthermore, males exposed to more unfavourable SDoH appeared to be more susceptible to developing periodontitis than females. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that unfavourable SDoH, especially when they accumulate, are associated with an increased odds of periodontitis and contribute to gender disparities within the U.S.

Outdoor gardening activity with different frequency and duration may be associated with reduction of total and cause-specific mortality risk for general U.S. adults: Findings from the NHANES.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Engaging in recommended levels of physical activity (PA) is associated with reduced overall and cause-specific mortality rates. Our study aims to examine the relationship between gardening-specific PA and all-cause and cause-specific mortality based on representative U.S. adults. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 13,812 adults representing 663.5 million non-institutionalized U.S. adults were included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Self-reported gardening activity (GA) was assessed by a validated questionnaire, and outcomes of interest were all-cause mortality and mortality specific to certain causes. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using survey-multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. During a median follow-up period of 16.8 years (Interquartile range = 14.8-18.7), there were 3,476 deaths. After adjusting for potential covariates, we found that participants exposed to GA were more likely to have a lower risk of total mortality [HR (95% CI): 0.76 (0.68, 0.85), P-value < 0.001], cancer-specific mortality [HR (95% CI): 0.81 (0.67, 0.99), P-value < 0.05], cardiovascular disease mortality [HR (95% CI): 0.65 (0.53, 0.80), P-value < 0.001], and respiratory disease mortality [HR (95% CI): 0.66 (0.45, 0.98), P-value < 0.05], compared to those without GA exposure. Furthermore, engaging in GA more frequently and for longer durations was significantly associated with a lower total mortality risk. CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence that engaging in GA is associated with a decreased risk of overall and cause-specific mortality. However, further longitudinal or interventional studies are needed to investigate the potential benefits of GA.

Total Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Burden Predicts the Outcome of Acute Stroke Patients after Intra-Arterial Thrombectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Various types of cerebral small vessel diseases (cSVD) markers commonly coexist. The neurological function outcome is affected by their combined effect. To investigate the effect of cSVD on intra-arterial thrombectomy (IAT), our study aimed at developing and testing a model with fusing a combination of multiple cSVD markers as total cSVD burden to predict the outcome of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients after IAT treatment. METHODS: From October 2018 to March 2021, continuous AIS patients with IAT treatment were enrolled. We calculated the cSVD markers identified by magnetic resonance imaging. The outcomes of all patients were assessed according to the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 90 days after stroke. The relationship between total cSVD burden and outcomes was analyzed by logistics regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 271 AIS patients were included in this study. The proportions of score 0∼4 in the total cSVD burden group (i.e., score 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 groups) were 9.6%, 19.9%, 23.6%, 32.8%, and 14.0%, respectively. The higher the cSVD score, the more patients with a poor outcome. Heavier total cSVD burden (1.6 [1.01∼2.27]), diabetes mellitus (1.27 [0.28∼2.23]), and higher national institute of health stroke scale (NIHSS) on admission (0.15 [0.07∼0.23]) were associated with poor outcome. In the two Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator regression models, model 1 using age, duration from onset to reperfusion, Alberta stroke program early CT score (ASPECTS), NIHSS on admission, modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (mTICI) and total cSVD burden as variables perform well on predicting short-term outcome in area under curve (AUC) of 0.90. Model 2, including all of the variables above except cSVD, showed less predictive capability than model 1 (AUC 0.90 vs. 0.82, p = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: The total cSVD burden score was independently associated with the clinical outcomes of AIS patients after IAT treatment and it may be a reliable predictor for poor outcomes of AIS patients after IAT treatment.

Findings of indoor air pollution and childhood obesity in a cross-sectional study of Chinese schoolchildren.

BACKGROUND: Air pollution exposures are increasingly suspected to influence the development of childhood adiposity, especially focusing on outdoor exposure, but few studies investigated indoor exposure and childhood obesity. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the association between exposure to multiple indoor air pollutants and childhood obesity in Chinese schoolchildren. METHODS: In 2019, we recruited 6499 children aged 6-12 years from five Chinese elementary schools in Guangzhou, China. We measured age-sex-specific body mass index z score (z-BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) on standard procedures. Four different indoor air pollution (IAP) exposures, including cooking oil fumes (COFs), home decoration, secondhand smoke (SHS), and incense burning, were collected by questionnaire and then converted into an IAP exposure index with four categories. Association between indoor air pollutants and childhood overweight/obesity as well as four obese anthropometric indices were assessed by logistic regression models and multivariable linear regression models, respectively. RESULTS: Children exposed to ≥3 types of indoor air pollutants had higher z-BMI (coefficient [ß]:0.142, 95% confidence interval [CI]:0.011-0.274) and higher risk of overweight/obesity (odd ratio [OR]:1.27, 95%CI:1.01-1.60). And a dose-response relationship was discovered between the IAP exposure index and z-BMI as well as overweight/obesity (pfor trend<0.05). We also found that exposure to SHS and COFs was positively associated with z-BMI and overweight/obesity (p < 0.05). Moreover, there was a significant interaction between SHS exposure and COFs on the higher risk of overweight/obesity among schoolchildren. Boys appear more susceptible to multiple indoor air pollutants than girls. CONCLUSIONS: Indoor air pollution exposures were positively associated with higher obese anthropometric indices and increased odds of overweight/obesity in Chinese schoolchildren. More well-designed cohort studies are needed to verify our results.

The epidemiological evidence linking exposure to ambient particulate matter with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: There has been increasing attention on the associations between ambient particulate matter (PM) in early-life and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). However, the associations remained unclear when considering different types of NDDs and different sizes of PM, and vulnerable exposure windows during early-life were not identified yet. OBJECTIVE: To synthesize the published literature on the associations between ambient particulate matter (PM) and risk of different types of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: A systematic search of Medline, Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science was performed from inception through 24 January 2022. Two reviewers conducted the study selection, data extraction, and quality appraisal. A random-effects model was used for meta-analyses with two quality-of-evidence assessments (the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system and the best evidence synthesis system). RESULTS: A total of 6554 articles were screened, of which 31 were included in the review, and 20 provided adequate data for meta-analyses. Exposures to particulate matter of 2.5 µm or less (PM2.5) during prenatal periods (OR, 1.32 [95%CI, 1.03-1.69]), the first year after birth (OR, 1.62 [95%CI, 1.22-2.15]) and the second year after birth (OR, 3.13 [95%CI, 1.47-6.67]) were associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. The quality of evidence for these associations during early postnatal periods was somewhat moderate with limited studies. We found inconsistent evidence when considering other types of NDDs and different sizes of PM. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Current evidence indicated that there might be an association between PM2.5 exposure and higher risk of ASD, and early postnatal periods appeared to be the critical exposure window. High-quality studies are needed to assess the evidence for other types of NDDs.

Effects of Home-Based Walking on Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients With Breast Cancer: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to critically evaluate the effect of home-based walking on cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in patients with breast cancer (BC) receiving anticancer treatment. DATA SOURCES: Eight databases were systematically searched from inception to March 2021 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) without language restrictions. STUDY SELECTION: Two reviewers (Y.Y. and Z.N.) scanned the titles and abstracts and then read the full texts of potentially eligible trials to screen the literature. Inclusion criteria were studies of home-based walking (HBW) intervention in adult patients with BC, using fatigue as a primary or secondary outcome, and containing extractable fatigue scores. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers (Y.Y. and Z.N.) critically and independently assessed the risk of bias using Cochrane Collaboration criteria and extracted correlated data using the designed extraction form. The standardized mean difference (SMD) was used when the outcome assessment tools were different. All of the analyses were performed using Review Manager 5.3. DATA SYNTHESIS: Eight RCTs including 764 patients (HBW: 377, control: 387) meeting the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis were identified. HBW had a significant effect on CRF in patients with BC receiving multiple anticancer treatments (SMD=-0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.86 to -0.36; P<.001). HBW without other exercises (SMD=-0.83; 95% CI, -1.39 to -0.27; P=.003), walking for a gradually increased duration (SMD=-1.24; 95% CI, -2.20 to -0.28; P=.010), and no restrictions on walking intensity (SMD=-1.03; 95% CI, -1.75 to -0.31; P=.005) demonstrated substantial effects on CRF. Of the 8 included studies, only 3 reported adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: HBW can be considered as an alternative therapy for relieving CRF in patients with BC undergoing anticancer treatment.

Effectiveness comparisons of various psychosocial therapies for children and adolescents with depression: a Bayesian network meta-analysis.

The existence of depression among children or adolescents can trigger a sequence of burdens on themselves, their families and even the whole society, which cause both physical and economic impacts. Our network meta-analysis (NMA) was aimed at comparing them with each other for evaluating the optimal psychosocial therapy to help children and adolescents with depression to improve their mental health. Based on several biomedical databases, a system of search strategies was conducted for searching randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which published from their inception on October, 1st 2018 without language restriction. We carried out an expression analysis for comparing the efficacy of various psychosocial therapies using Bayesian NMA. A battery of analyses and assessments, such as conventional meta-analysis and risk of bias, were performed concurrently. Only 32 of RCTs which involved 2677 participants were eventually included in our analyses from the 19,176 of initial citation screening. In addition, in terms of various valid assessment instruments, interpersonal psychotherapy [standard mean difference (SMD) = -1.38, Credible interval (CrI) - 2.5, - 0.20)], computer cognitive-behavioral therapy (SMD = -1.36, CrI - 2.59, - 0.14), cognitive-behavioral therapy (SMD = -1.16, CrI - 2.15, - 0.18), had significantly better effects than the named control group. All together, these results suggest that interpersonal psychotherapy might be the best approach to improve the depressive state among children and adolescents. This study may provide an excellent resource for future endeavors to utilize psychosocial interventions and may also serve as a springboard for creative undertakings as yet unknown.

Effects of non-pharmacological therapies for people with mild cognitive impairment. A Bayesian network meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of non-pharmacological therapies (NPTs) on improving the cognition of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by performing a Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA). METHODS: We searched eight databases for potentially eligible studies. Physical exercise (PE), cognitive stimulation (CS), cognitive training (CT), cognitive rehabilitation (CR), musical therapy (MT) and multi-domain interventions (MI). Pairwise meta-analyses were performed by estimating the weighted mean differences with 95% confidence interval (CI) for mini-mental state examination. The NMA was undertaken to compare different interventions. RESULTS: CS, PE, MI, MT and CT may all be effective in improving the cognition of patients with MCI. CR was unable to show a significant efficacy. Our NMA ranking results suggest the effectiveness of the six NPTs to be ranked from best to worst as follows: CS, PE, MI, MT, CT and CR. CONCLUSIONS: NPT has great potential to improve the cognition of the elderly with MCI. CS has the highest probability of being the optimal NPT. However, the result should be interpreted with cautions given the limited number and small samples of included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in this field, large diversity existing in different study designs and potential risk of bias. Future RCTs with high quality and large sample sizes are required to confirm our results. SUMMARY: NPT, as a whole definition, has great potential to improve the cognition of the elderly with MCI. Our NMA ranking results suggest the effectiveness of the six NPTs to be ranked from best to worst as follows: CS, PE, MI, MT, CT and CR.

Mobile device use and the cognitive function and depressive symptoms of older adults living in residential care homes.

BACKGROUND: With the fast-paced aging and increasing digitalization of society, there has been a growing interest in the effect of mobile device use on cognitive function and depression in older adults. However, research examining this issue among older adults in residential care homes (RCHs) is scant. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of mobile device use on the cognitive function and depressive symptoms of older adults living in RCHs. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). RESULTS: A total of 235 senior residents (aged 82.58 ± 5.54) in four RCHs were surveyed. Users of mobile devices had a significantly higher total MoCA score (25.02 ± 4.14) and a significantly lower GDS-15 score (3.28 ± 2.74) than non-users (MoCA: 19.34 ± 5.21, GDS-15: 4.69 ± 2.90). Multivariate linear regression indicate that mobile device use is significantly associated with total MoCA score, six of the seven sub-scores (visuospatial abilities and execution functions, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall, and orientation)(P < 0.05). Logistic regression showed that mobile device use was significantly associated with the level of depressive symptoms (OR = 0.458, 95%CI = 0.249-0.845). CONCLUSIONS: Use of mobile devices has a significant association with the cognitive function and depressive symptoms of older adults living in RCHs, and thus should be encouraged as a measure to maintain and improve cognition and prevent depression.

How do socioeconomic status relate to social relationships among adolescents: a school-based study in East China.

BACKGROUND: A great number of studies have concentrated on the influence of socioeconomic status with health outcomes, but little on how socioeconomic status affects social relationship in adolescents' families, peers and schools. This study aimed to clarify more detailed information on the connection between social relationships and different dimensions of socioeconomic status. METHODS: A school-based cross-sectional study was performed by 13-18 adolescents enrolled in East China from September, 2018 to May, 2019, which recruited 6902 students from junior and senior high schools and used the stratified random sampling method. Parent-child relationship (cohesion, expressiveness, conflict), peer relationship (interpersonal relationship, communication and interaction, social emotion) and student-teacher relationship (intimacy, support, satisfaction, conflict) were investigated. Besides, objective socioeconomic status (parental education and occupation, assessed by the adolescent) and subjective socioeconomic status (self-evaluation of family social class) were measured. More detailed information was used to clarify the link between social relationships and different dimensions of socioeconomic status. RESULTS: All five indicators of socioeconomic status were slightly positively correlated with the quality of social relationships (r ranged from 0.036 to 0.189, all p < 0.001), except that maternal education was not correlated with the conflict dimension of parent-child relationship. Standardized regression coefficients indicated that paternal education (ß = 0.08) and occupation (ß = 0.07) were the predictors of parent-child relationship. And peer relationship model revealed that the corresponding effect size was slightly stronger for subjective socioeconomic status (ß = 0.10), whereas the maternal education had a slightly stronger correlation with student-teacher relationship (ß = 0.07) relative to other indicators. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with lower socioeconomic status had poorer social relationships compared to those with higher socioeconomic status. These findings have important public health implications for health policy makers to make sound decisions on resources allocation and services planning in improving adolescents' social relationships and promoting health outcomes.

Depressive Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are a pervasive mental health problem in Chinese adolescents. The aim of this article was to systematically assess the trend of depressive symptoms in China among adolescents (1988 to 2018). MATERIAL AND METHODS A systematic and comprehensive literature search was conducted in both English and Chinese databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, CNKI, and Wan Fang Database, to identify relevant studies published between 1988 and 2018. Batteries of analyses in this meta-analysis were undertaken using Stata version 12.0 statistical software. RESULTS Sixty-two related reports involving 232 586 participants finally met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results suggest the prevalence of depressive symptoms has generally increased over time. The prevalence estimates before 2000 were 18.4% (95% CI, 14.5-22.3%), and were 26.3% (95% CI, 21.9-30.8%) after 2016. The pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms among children and adolescents was 22.2% (95% CI: 19.9-24.6%, I²=99.6%, p<0.001). More subgroup analyses classified by screening instrument, gender, and region were carried out in this meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS Results of our meta-analysis suggest that depressive symptoms have become more prevalent among Chinese adolescents. This trend emphasizes the need for effective prevention strategies and greater availability of screening tools for this vulnerable population.

Effects of physical activity and exercise on the cognitive function of patients with Alzheimer disease: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD), as the most common cause of dementia, brings huge economic burden for patients and social health care systems, which motivates researchers to study multiple protective factors, among which physical activity and exercise have been proven to be both effective and economically feasible. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed for eligible studies published up to November 1st 2018 on three international databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase) and two Chinese databases (Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure). All analyses were conducted using Stata 14.0. Due to heterogeneity between studies, a random-effects model was used for this meta-analysis. Meta-analysis was used to explore if physical activity and exercise can exert positive effects on cognition of elderly with AD and subgroup analyses were conducted to find out if there are dose-response effects. RESULTS: A total of 13 randomized controlled trials were included with a sample size of 673 subjects diagnosed with AD. Intervention groups showed a statistically significant improvement in cognition of included subjects measured by the MMSE score (SMD = 1.12 CI:0.66~1.59) compared to the control groups. Subgroup analyses showed different amounts of physical activity and exercise can generate different effects. CONCLUSIONS: As one of few meta-analyses comparing different quantities of physical activity and exercise interventions for AD in details, our study suggests that physical activity and exercise can improve cognition of older adults with AD. While the concomitant effects on cognition functions of high frequency interventions was not greater than that of low frequency interventions, the threshold remains to be settled. However, more RCTs with rigorous study design are needed to support our findings.

Synthesis, Electrochemistry, and Single-Molecule Conductance of Bimetallic 2,3,5,6-Tetra(pyridine-2-yl)pyrazine-Based Complexes.

The ligands 4'-(4-(methylthio)phenyl)-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (L(1)), 4'-((4-(methylthio)phenyl)ethynyl)- 2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (L(2)), and bis(tridentate) bridging ligand 2,3,5,6-tetra(pyridine-2-yl)pyrazine (tpp) were used to prepare the complexes [Ru(L(1))2][PF6]2 ([1][PF6]2, [Ru(L(2))2][PF6]2 ([2][PF6]2), [{(L(1))Ru}(µ-tpp){Ru(L(1))}][PF6]4 ([3][PF6]4), and [{(L(2))Ru}(µ-tpp){Ru(L(2))}][PF6]4 ([4][PF6]4). Crystallographically determined structures give S···S distances of up to 32.0 Å in [4](4+). On the basis of electrochemical estimates, the highest occupied molecular orbitals of these complexes fall between -5.55 and -5.85 eV, close to the work function of clean gold (5.1-5.3 eV). The decay of conductance with molecular length across this series of molecules is approximately exponential, giving rise to a decay constant (pseudo ß-value) of 1.5 nm(-1), falling between decay factors for oligoynes and oligophenylenes. The results are consistent with a tunnelling mechanism for the single-molecule conductance behavior.

Enhancing electron transport in molecular wires by insertion of a ferrocene center.

We have determined the conductance of alkane-linked ferrocene molecules with carboxylic acid anchoring groups using the STM break junction technique, and three sets of conductance values were found, i.e. high conductance (HC), medium conductance (MC) and low conductance (LC) values. The enhancing effect of the incorporated ferrocene on the electron transport in saturated alkane molecular wires is demonstrated by the increased conductance of the ferrocene molecules, attributed to the reduction of the tunneling barrier and the HOMO-LUMO gap induced by the insertion of ferrocene. Furthermore, the electron-withdrawing carbonyl group on the unconjugated backbone has little or no influence on single-molecule conductance. The current work provides a feasible approach for the design of high-performance molecular wires.

Secular trends in the prevalence of meeting 24-hour movement guidelines among U.S. adolescents: evidence from NHANES 2007-2016.

Background: The 24-Hour Movement Guidelines (24-HMG) recommend a balanced combination of physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB) and sleep (SLP) for optimal health. However, there is limited understanding of how well U.S. adolescents adhere to these guidelines. This study aims to analyze the prevalence trends of meeting the 24-HMG among a nationally representative sample of U.S. general adolescents. Methods: The study included 2,273 adolescents (55.3% boys) aged 16-19 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) from 2007 to 2016. The researchers categorized the adolescents based on whether they met various PA, SB, and SLP recommendations, as well as different combinations of these recommendations, separately for boys and girls. The prevalence rate, weighted by survey data, was calculated along with a 95% confidence interval (CI) to assess the changes in meeting the 24-HMG among U.S. adolescents across different survey years and sociodemographic subgroups. Results: In the 2015-2016 cycle, approximately 6.3% of adolescents did not meet any of the three recommendations, while only 19.2% of adolescents achieved all three guidelines. Compliance with PA and SB recommendations among adolescents has decreased over time, from 72.5% (65.9% to 79.2%) to 64.2% (57.4% to 70.9%) for PA, and from 59.0% (49.6% to 68.4%) to 46.6% (37.8% to 55.5%) for SB, respectively, from 2007-2008 cycle to 2015-2016 cycle. Boys exhibited more favorable patterns in meeting different sets of recommendations compared to girls (p-value <0.001). This includes meeting both PA and SB guidelines (15.5% for boys and 11.1% for girls) and meeting both PA and SLP guidelines (19.5% for boys and 15.7% for girls). The level of parental education was found to have effect on meeting all three guidelines (Ptrend < 0.05). Conclusion: We analyzed ten consecutive years of representative NHANES data to evaluate the prevalence meeting 24-HMG and found that the proportion of adolescents aged 16-19 in the U.S. who adhered to all three movement guidelines simultaneously has consistently remained low throughout each survey cycle. Notably, there has been a significant decline in the proportion of adolescents meeting the SB guideline.

Efficacy comparison of 21 interventions to prevent retinopathy of prematurity: a Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the comparative efficacy of current interventions for the prevention of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in premature infants. METHODS: A network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for relevant studies from their inception to May 5, 2022. Publications were eligible for our study if they were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving preterm infants at <37 weeks of gestational age and reported the incidence of any-stage ROP treated with the interventions of interest. The overall effect was pooled using the random effects model. RESULTS: We identified 106 RCTs (involving 23894 participants). This NMA showed that vitamin A supplementation markedly reduced the incidence of ROP, in comparison with placebo (odds ratio [OR] = 0.59, 95% credible interval [95% CrI] 0.33, 0.85), fish oil-based lipid emulsion (OR = 0.57, 95% CrI 0.24, 0.90), early erythropoietin (OR = 0.51, 95% CrI 0.34, 0.98), probiotics (OR = 0.48, 95% CrI 0.32, 0.97), and human milk (OR = 0.50, 95% CrI 0.21, 0.78). Vitamin A supplementation has the highest probability of being the best option for reducing the ROP risk compared with the other 20 interventions based on its surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) value (SUCRA = 92.50%, 95% CrI 0.71, 1.00). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that among 21 interventions, vitamin A supplementation might be the best method of preventing ROP. This NMA offers an important resource for further efforts to develop preventive strategies for ROP.

Sexual orientation disparities in the prevalence of suicidal ideation among U.S adults aged 20 to 59 years: Results from NHANES 2005-2016.

Existing studies have been limited in providing nationally representative data on the relationship between sexual orientation and suicidal ideation (SI) among adults in the U.S. particularly in terms of gender and racial differences. To fill this research gap, we conducted a study using data from the NHANES conducted between 2005 and 2016. Survey-weighted logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between sexual orientation and SI risk. Additionally, we performed further analysis by stratifying the data based on demographic variables and performed sensitivity analysis to ensure the reliability of our findings. This study included a weighted sample of 16,564 adults, representing a noninstitutionalized U.S population of 840.1 million. The overall age-adjusted prevalence of SI was found to be 3.5 %. After adjusting for relevant covariates, the study revealed that individuals who identified as something else, homosexual, and bisexual had a higher prevalence risk of suicidal ideation (SI) compared to heterosexual participants. Additionally, the study found that heterosexual participants were 74.4 % less likely to experience SI compared to bisexual individuals. These findings highlight the urgent requirement for inclusive and supportive prevention strategies to effectively address SI among adult sexual minorities in the U.S.

Infant Formulas With Partially or Extensively Hydrolyzed Milk Proteins for the Prevention of Allergic Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials.

Despite the widely recommended usage of partially hydrolyzed formula (PHF) or extensively hydrolyzed formula (EHF) of milk protein for preventing allergic diseases (ADs), clinical studies have been inconclusive regarding their efficacy compared with that of cow's milk formula (CMF) or breast milk (BM). We aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of PHF or EHF compared with those of CMF or BM on risk of ADs (cow's milk allergy, allergic rhinitis, eczema, asthma, wheeze, food allergy, and sensitization) in children. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for clinical trials published from inception to 21 October, 2022. We used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to grade the strength of evidence. Overall, 24 trials (10,950 infants) were included, 17 of which specifically included high-risk infants. GRADE was low for the evidence that, compared with CMF, infants early fed with EHF had lower risk of cow's milk allergy at age 0-2 y [relative risk (RR): 0.62; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.99]. Moderate evidence supported that PHF and EHF reduced risk of eczema in children aged younger or older than 2 y, respectively (RR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.96; and RR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.94, respectively). We also identified moderate systematic evidence indicating that PHF reduced risk of wheeze at age 0-2 y compared with CMF (RR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.85), but PHF and EHF increased the risk compared with BM (RR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.11, 2.31; and RR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.26, 2.14). Neither PHF nor EHF had significant effects on other ADs in children of any age. In conclusion, compared with CMF, PHF, or EHF had different preventive effect on cow's milk allergy, eczema, and wheeze. Compared with BM, both PHF and EHF may increase risk of wheeze but not other ADs. Given that most trials included only high-risk infants, more research on non-high-risk infants is warranted before any generalization is attempted. This protocol was registered at PROSPERO as CRD42022320787.